"Edmonton-based independent ultra-LCC Flair Airlines stepped up its competition with the Canadian majors’ subsidiary LCCs Aug. 20 by announcing 11 new nonstop transborder US flights for the upcoming winter season.

New nonstop routes out of Flair’s Edmonton International Airport (YEG) hub include Las Vegas McCarran International (LAS), Phoenix/Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA), Palm Springs International (PSP), Orlando International (MCO) and Miami International (MIA). Flair announced it will also fly to Las Vegas, Phoenix/Mesa, Orlando and Miami from Winnipeg International (YWG), along with a new Winnipeg-St. Pete/Clearwater (PIE) pairing. A new Toronto-Miami route was announced as well.

Both of Flair’s new Edmonton flights to Las Vegas and Phoenix/Mesa will compete directly with flights offered by WestJet subsidiary LCC Swoop. Flair’s new Toronto-Miami flight will compete with Air Canada’s rouge LCC subsidiary, though rouge offers 2X-daily service on the route.

Flair’s Edmonton-Las Vegas route is set to launch from Nov. 9, while the remaining flights will roll out starting Dec. 15.

Previously a charter carrier, Flair transitioned to scheduled passenger service in 2017. In June, the carrier doubled its domestic routes from 90 to 188 weekly flights and expanded its reach across Canada with new flights serving Victoria International Airport (YYJ), Calgary International (YYC) and Halifax Stanfield International (YHZ).

While Flair’s primary connecting hub is Edmonton International, the company’s recent domestic route moves brings it into ever more concentrated competition with Air Canada and rouge, as well as Calgary-based WestJet and Swoop.

Winnipeg International is Flair’s second-largest connecting hub, connecting to Edmonton and Calgary but also to Abbotsford International (YXX) and Vancouver International (YVR) in British Columbia.

Earlier in August, Flair announced it will pull out of Hamilton’s John C. Munro International Airport (YHM) in late October to consolidate its southern Ontario flying out of Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). The airline plans to launch new domestic routes between Toronto-Winnipeg and Calgary-Abbotsford for the winter season.

At present Flair’s fleet comprises seven Boeing 737-400s. The airline has said it plans to add two additional aircraft in 2018, both 737-800s, and four more in 2019 as part of its expansion plans."

Despite what the PR people said when the US routes were cancelled, and what tbaylx said in the Enerjet thread elsewhere, it doesn't seem like Flair's problem is a lack of aircraft; they have three 737-400s parked in Kelowna, and another in Calgary. They're now cancelling domestic routes on short notice too. If it were changes to their service for subsequent seasons I could understand that it's a re-evaluation of what routes are profitable, but they're dropping service just weeks out. I don't know if they don't have the crews to operate the aircraft that they do have flying, or that they simply can't afford to keep those routes going, but if they're shutting down routes going into the peak summer season it doesn't bode well. There are scathing reviews and lots of angry customers who will never book with Flair again because they had to rebook with other operators on short notice for much higher fares, and now a class-action lawsuit over the practice.

Despite what the PR people said when the US routes were cancelled, and what tbaylx said in the Enerjet thread elsewhere, it doesn't seem like Flair's problem is a lack of aircraft; they have three 737-400s parked in Kelowna, and another in Calgary. They're now cancelling domestic routes on short notice too. If it were changes to their service for subsequent seasons I could understand that it's a re-evaluation of what routes are profitable, but they're dropping service just weeks out. I don't know if they don't have the crews to operate the aircraft that they do have flying, or that they simply can't afford to keep those routes going, but if they're shutting down routes going into the peak summer season it doesn't bode well. There are scathing reviews and lots of angry customers who will never book with Flair again because they had to rebook with other operators on short notice for much higher fares, and now a class-action lawsuit over the practice.

We don't have any parked aircraft at all. We are phasing out the 400's for obvious reasons. YYJ was a proposed domestic summer route that Flair chose not to start this year and the aircraft have been deployed domestically on other routes with higher yields. Other than YYJ there have been no domestic cancellations that i'm aware of. YHZ was delayed by a month however.
Most of the customer anger comes from the winter route cancellations. No doubt that could have been managed much better, and for our sake I hope we learned a few lessons from that.

We don't have any parked aircraft at all. We are phasing out the 400's for obvious reasons.

I don't what to tell you; there are three 737s with Flair liveries parked in Kelowna, and another parked in Calgary. If the reasoning behind cancelling routes to the US was that the leased -800 was being returned, why not bring those -400s back into service for a few months instead of just ending the routes abruptly? If they're being "phased out", that means that they're still airworthy, they're just not as economical, but they're still better than cancelling all US routes and pissing off the customers.
As for domestic cancellations, Kelowna-Calgary has already been ended, and Vancouver-Winnipeg is ending in June. Passengers found out weeks from their departure date for the latter, and in the case of the former they did the same as with the US routes: tons of people found out at the last minute that the entire service was shut down, and they'll have to find alternate transportation. It doesn't sound like Flair has learned anything.

The 737 400s In YLW no longer belong to Flair they have been returned to KFC. But that being said Current pilots are looking for options elsewhere. No communication from mgmt and constant changes. Flair had its chance and is blowing it.

The 737 400s In YLW no longer belong to Flair they have been returned to KFC. But that being said Current pilots are looking for options elsewhere. No communication from mgmt and constant changes. Flair had its chance and is blowing it.

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